


Stop Caring

by PhantomKuro



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: M/M, Nearly immortal Shinichi, Shinichi fucked up, akako is helping, kaito is worried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 17,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24660367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomKuro/pseuds/PhantomKuro
Summary: [Completed]Kaitou KID and Shinichi Kudo have been rivals since they could think. Whenever Kaito announces a heist, Shinichi would definitely show up to stop him. But as time passes, various accidents bring these two closer and closer until they finally have to face what had been there from the start. Their love for each other.Also, Pandora does a great deal in convincing them as well-
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid, kaishin, shinkai - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

"Ah Meitantei, you cornered me~ Seems like you won this time."  
Kaito Kuroba, moreover known as Kaitou KID, stood with his back towards the edge on top of a scyscraper. As usual, it was a dark night and the only light was the bright one below him in the city and the moonlight from above.

"Hands up KID. It's over."

Shinichis expression didn't change the slightest bit as he held up his gun, aiming it at the phantom thief. KID took a step backwards, his heel already hanging above the edge. A gust of wind blew up his cape in the cool nightair.  
"The police will be up here soon. Just stay where you are and keep your hands raised."  
KID let out a soft chuckle and lowered his head a little, making it impossible for Shinichi to get a better look at his features, his hands raised on shoulder height.  
"My hands raised huh? Well if it's that what you want."  
Suddenly, with two fingers he pulled a card out of his sleeve and began to laugh, throwing it onto the beton roof. Smoke streamed out of it and covered within seconds the whole roof. Shinichi, rather unsatisfied with the thought of losing to KID again, stormed into the smoke and almost fell off of the roof himself.

But there wasn't any sound, not even audible for Shinichis great ears.  
The door to the roof bursted open and Nakamori-keibu entered together with a bunch of armed policemen, shouting victoriously.  
"We're here!! Where's he?!"  
"...gone."  
The smoke slowly cleared again and Shinichi stood at the edge, his gaze glued to the white figure slowly dissapearing out of sight.  
"I... I lost him."  
"Oh damn you KID!!"  
The keibu clearly was furious, not only had KID robbed a huge diamond but also slipped again through his fingers. What a great evening for the police... The keibu surely knew, his division wouldn't earn any support from the town cheering down below for KID.

But for KID, the great phantom thief, the night was just as perfect as usual. No wound, not even a scratch, his costume for once not any bit dirty and an expensive diamond in his pocket. Laughing to himself he soon arrived back in his hideout and began to undress.  
"I'm so damn glad to finally wear something comfy again..."  
The teen took a short breath and stepped out of the painting of his father, Kuroba Toichi, and slumped down on his bed.  
"Now... what to do with that jewel..."  
He didn't want to throw it away again as usual when he realized this wasn't the gem he had been after. For this kind of treatment these gems really were too important and expensive. He had to give it to somebody but he didn't know any person trustworthy enough to receive such a diamond.

Kaito turned onto his back and took the gem out of his pocket, turning it slightly in the soft light of his ceiling lamp. It sure sparkled a lot and would make most girls faint if they would receive it as present. He couldn't help than to giggle quietly.  
"Typical... Ah, I don't know. I can't just go to Nakamori-keibu again, the diamond is too big to send it with a letter. And the risk of visiting personal is too high... Right! Kudo Shinichi! He'll let me pass!"  
Kaito had found his person to visit. Why not just paying Shinichi a visit? A bright grin came onto his lips as he thought about it. Shinichis face would be more than priceless to suddenly see Kaitou KID in his own room.  
"Oh yes... That will get awesome..."  
But for now, Kaito Kuroba was way too tired to go back into action again. This would have time until next evening which came rather fast after school and the usual work and practice he had to do for his magic tricks.

Once Kaito paid his mother an hour of attention to her gross love stories he went past the painting of his father and entered his hideout, dressing fastly until he was just again the famous phantom thief Kaitou KID. For the finishing touches he turned himself to look at his reflection inside the huge mirror and nodded as last attempt in satisfaction. The diamond in his pocket, he climbed out of the window and rushed off over the roofs.  
As soon as he arrived, he stepped into a corner of Shinichi's room. Usual for him, he just broke in through the window. The Kudo mansion surely was everything but well secured; it was more than easy to just walk in. But as finally the door opened and a tired Shinichi shambled inside, KID began with his usual show.

"Greetings, Meitantei~"  
Shinichi froze this instant and spun around to the corner where Kaito stood, body language unmistakingly relaxed as if this would be his own room. What on earth was KID doing in here?! How could he dare to enter a detective's house! Shinichi backed away and stared alarmed at him, a silence filling the room until he decided to break it.  
"What do you want, KID?"


	2. Chapter 2

KID chuckled softly and tipped shortly his head. Such a nosy detective, wasn't he? But that was what he loved about his rival. He was more than worthy to be his opponent.  
"My my Meitantei, so straightforward. Aren't we going to have a little chat first~?"  
Shinichi scoffed a little, but made sure to not let his guard down. To him, Kid was definitely not someone to underestimate.  
"No. What do you want? I'll call the cops right away."

He pulled out his phone and flashed a short glance at the Kaitou to make sure he wouldn't try anything funny but once he returned his eyes to his phone, it was replaced by a toy phone. Startled by that, Shinichi let out a squeak and the toy dropped onto the floor.  
"H-how did you...?!"  
"I'm not here to play with you, Meitantei. I'm here to return the jewel~"  
"You... what?!"  
Shinichis expression switched into priceless as Kaito came closer and lifted his chin with a cheeky grin.  
"What, did I make you speechless~?"  
Poor Shinichi finally got back to his senses again and roughly pushed Kaito away from him, growling darkly.  
"Don't touch me you scumbag!! You usually throw these gems away. You're behaving suspicious."  
"My my, quite a rude behavior."

As if nothing happened, KID took three elegant steps to the opened window and climbed up the windowsill.  
"Until we meet again under the moonlight, Meitantei~"  
"Wait! Hey! What about the jewel?!"  
Kaitou KID snickered, fairly entertained by this conversation, he seemed to enjoy toying like that with the infamous detective.  
"Look into your pocket~"  
But as soon as Shinichi lowered his gaze to fish out a beautiful sparkling jewel, Kaito simply disappeared like he never would have entered this room at all.

Cursing quietly, Shinichi plopped down on his bed and turned the sparkling gem in his hands, examining it up close.  
"Why on earth did he give the jewel to me? It's not like we meet too often..."  
With a soft sigh Shinichi searched in his pockets for his phone, luckily finding it soon. He leaned back down onto his bed and dialed the number of the keibu, sighing to himself as he waited for him to pick up. As usual, Nakamori was overly exited to hear about Kaitou KID showing himself again.

Not long after he left Kaito returned into the bar again with Jii greeting him as usual with a polite bow.  
"Did you succeed bocchama?"  
"Of course~ You should have seen Kudos face. He looked priceless to find me waiting in his room~"  
Jii chuckled softly and took the coat off of Kaito, hiding it in the employee area of the bar.  
"That sounds like a fairly good evening for you, bocchama."  
"Oh yes, it definitely was~!"  
Kaito yawned softly and arched his back. He wanted to do nothing more than leaving to bed. He bid Jii farewell and left back into his own house and bed, falling asleep within a few minutes. After all, this had been quite a funny night.

The next day, Shinichi bumped on his way to the police into a young man. He stumbled backwards and took a short gasp, then bowed as apology.  
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't see you."  
The young man smiled sheepishly back and nodded, holding out his hand.  
"Sorry. I'm Kuroba Kaito. You... you are Kudo Shinichi, aren't you? I've read about your solved case in the newspaper."  
Shinichi's expression turned into surprise, but instantly another sheepish smile grew on his face.  
"Yeah, that's me... Sorry, but I'm kinda in a hurry now."  
"Of course, I understand. Maybe we bump into each other sometime again~"  
Shinichi merely nodded and headed off again. Something seemed odd to him about this Kuroba... It was just like he had already met him somewhere. The man shook himself shortly to get rid of that thought. No matter how he turned it, he hated déjàvus.  
Once he arrived at the station, he of course had to let the policemen and especially Nakamori-keibu bomb him with questions about KID. It actually wasn't much different than usual, just the normal questions about his appearance, any new details or clues to follow and so on.

Kaito on the other hand smirked to himself once he reached his destination, a cafe. He didn't await to meet Shinichi today, but it sure helped a lot. Because as they bumped together, Kaito could slip a small note to his next heist into the Meitantei's pocket. Oh, how much he would have loved to see the face of Shinichi once he noticed the small code in his jacket.  
"He will definitely question himself for the next few hours how he couldn't notice me slipping that into his pocket... would be typical Kudo~"  
With a pleasured sigh he leaned back and took a sip of his freshly ordered coffee. This time he had another jewel in sight, a beautiful sapphire. He couldn't await to show his rival the world of dreams again and steal the sapphire directly under his nose away.  
"I wonder how you will try to catch me this time, Meitantei~"


	3. Chapter 3

Shinichi arrived punctual at the huge museum at night time. He was not only surprised to find a note in his pocket, he was shocked to find out it had been from KID himself. Thanks to this damned thief he sure kept bothering himself with trying to find out how on earth KID could have managed to slip the note into his pocket.  
He took a short inhale and wrapped himself tighter into his jacket. It sure became colder these days, hopefully he wasn't going to get a cold. The night sky was as clear as ever and the moon shone beautiful down onto the bulding. Much to Shinichis discontent he first of all had to squish himself through the tons of KID fans.

They had gathered everywhere around the building but made sure to keep a good safe space from the place of act. Most of them were girls, cheering for their idol to once win again against the police and moreover, against Shinichi. The man mentally scoffed. If public really didn't appreciate their work at all, maybe they should just stop trying to hunt Kid and focus onto more important things like serial killers or some sort of that.  
But finally, he made his way through the squealing crowd and took the stairs up into the museum. Nakamori-keibu was the first one to bump into him, as usual shouting harsh orders.  
"Kudo-kun! Perfect timing!"  
"I am not going to miss one of KID's heists."  
It was fairly weird for Shinichi to say this, after all he had never found any interest in hunting plain thieves. But Kaito was different, this thief was special. Shinichi clearly felt something hidden behind these indigo eyes, a mystery he would die to solve. And this would happen once he finally caught Kid.

"FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT!! IS EVERYTHING SET UP?!"  
"SIR YES SIR!!"  
As usual, Nakamori proved his lungs to be as strong as the one of a noisy child. Shinichi grimaced a little and stepped into the entrance hall, further into the building and past policemen setting up traps, discussing plans and strategies until he reached a lone part of the building. He felt he was safe here from the inspector, but something was odd. He sensed the presence of somebody, he definitely wasn't alone. A shiver ran down Shinichi's spine and he slowly but surely became a little nervous. This presence was thrilling... mysterious... It promised danger.

It was KID.

It had to be KID. There was no other choice. But before he could leave again to Nakamori to tell him about his suspicion, the his alarm went off on his phone. 23:02. Time for KID to appear.  
Like he awaited it, suddenly a pink cloud of smoke appeared and KID's voice rang similar like bells of the apocalypse behind Shinichi.  
"Good evening great detective~"  
Shinichi wanted to spin around but got caught in the culprit's grip. Struggling for his dear life, he glared daggers at the famous phantom thief.  
"Let go of me!! Lowlife!!"  
"My my, dear Meitantei... Such a rude behavior. Maybe I should just punish you for that."  
Shinichi froze as he saw the mischievous glim in Kids eyes. It was hypnotizing him; KID's glare pierced his soul and threatened to devour him inside out. The boy remained frozen but once he caught himself again he found himself tangled up inside a net, captured and unable to escape.  
"O-oi!! Let me out of this!! KID!!"

Kaito didn't bother to listen at all to Shinichi. Whistling carefree, he took the stairs into the upper halls of the museum, heading where the beautiful jewel was kept. Shinichi on the other hand kept on struggling in the net, crying out harsh insults even Nakamori-keibu would turn a sheepish red at. It was quite a blow against his pride to get stopped by something silly as a net. Lucky enough for him, policemen rushed past him and one showed enough mercy to cut him out of his trap. Shinichi merely nodded towards him and followed the others upstairs.  
"He surprised me from behind. I didn't see him coming at all."  
A look of pure displeasure on his face Shinichi bursted into the room where the jewel should be, much to his frustration, it was gone.

"KID can't be far!! Seal all escapes!"  
This time, the police actually managed to secure every single way in and out. Kaito, hiding inside a small storage room, took a deep breath and slumped down against the wall behind him.  
"What have I gotten myself into again..."  
A little helpless he looked through his repertoire, merely finding a few smoke bombs and a bit of sleeping gas. All his other tricks he had wasted on the policemen, but now he had all reason to be cornered. With a sigh he took out the building plans of the museum, trying to find a way out. Once he finally managed to locate a good escape, he picked up his map and stuffed it into his pocket. He dusted his clothes a little, then finally went to open the door.

...which caused him to bump into a certain detective, who was just as surprised to see Kaitou KID still in here.


	4. Chapter 4

Shinichi and Kaito both froze, silence falling upon the hallway. It wasn't long until these two caught themselves again and the detective launched at KID, trying to tackle him onto the ground. The famous phantom thief avoided him with a chuckle.  
"So straightforward..."  
"Shut your slaps! You're arrested!"  
"Try to."  
Shinichi attacked over and over again, trying to somehow get a hold of Kaito but only with the result of the thief avoiding every single one of his attacks just as skilled as ever. Voices approaching them caused KID to let down his guard and finally, Shinichi landed a well placed punch directly into his stomach, causing Kaito to collapse onto his knees, holding the hurting area with clenched teeth.  
"U-ugh..."  
"Over here!!! I caught him!!"

As Shinichi tried to call again for the policemen life seemed to have reawoken in KID's body. He jumped up and covered the mouth of the surprised detective, releasing a quiet grow into his ear.  
"Stop being so troublesome."  
Shinichi made a few muffled noises which sounded like 'Like hell!!' but Kaito kept the man in a tight iron grip. Now, how to get out of this misery? The police was coming closer, the footsteps getting faster and faster. It wasn't long until KID decided how to save himself. As soon as the police rushed around the corner, Kaitou KID gave Shinichi a hard push into their direction, letting these two parts crush into each other. Laughing at his own success he rushed off, at the stairs leading towards the roof he used a grappling hook to increase his speed to another unfair advantage. With a good reason, because as soon as his chasers jumped onto the third step the slide activated itself and all of them rushed with yelps and squawks down again. Kaito just tipped his head with a cheeky grin and soon enough opened the door onto the roof.

The cold night air hitting his face let him grow once more happy, being Kaitou KID surely was one of the most exiting things happening in his life. At the edge of the roof, he took out the sapphire and held it against the moonlight. With a sigh of disappointment he lowered his hand again and grumbled.  
"Again a waste of my time..."  
A little demotivated he sat down at the edge, his feet hanging over it.  
"Will I ever find this stupid jewel...?"  
Kaito disappeared within his thoughts as he watched the beautiful moonlight illuminating the sky, but that was until he felt the cold metal of a revolver against the back of his head.  
"...Hands up KID. This time, it's really over."  
Surprised that Shinichi managed to come up the staircase slide, he froze completely. Much to Shinichis surprise, this time he didn't receive a cocky answer or any kind of snarky remark.  
"Maybe it is... Maybe it always was..."

The man was too dumbfounded to really react to this answer, so he just kept staring onto the phantom thief. This time, he finally would arrest him and reveal his identity for public. But something deep inside him spoke against that as he heard KID so sad and hopeless.  
"What are you talking about. That's not something you usually say."  
A weak chuckle escaped KID's mouth as he dug into his pocket and pulled out the jewel he had in his hands not too long ago too.  
"Meitantei, tell me... How long are you trying to capture me?"  
"Since one year, dumbass. And Nakamori-keibu even longer, since nineteen years."  
"Exactly."  
Shinichi turned a little confused, obviously for the first time he finally could manage to see behind KID's constant pokerface.  
"You know... I wonder if I'm accomplishing my goals soon..."  
Kaito didn't know what came over him to tell the detective what was on his mind during the last heists, but for some reason he felt it releasing to speak himself out. And stubborn or not, Shinichi surely knew when to keep quiet about something and when not.

"Which goals?"  
It was already clear for Shinichi that KID wasn't just doing that to humiliate the police, he had a reason. But his curiousity was dying to hear why KID was actually KID. Sadly, this wasn't going to happen.  
"...nevermind. Farewell, until the next moonlit night, Meitantei."  
Shinichi widened his eyes as suddenly Kaito directly in front of him popped into millions of confetti pieces. His jaw fell as he hastily looked around in search for the thief, but he definitely was gone. And with him the jewel. Shinichi could scream, he almost had him!

But suddenly, a gunshot sliced the air apart. The man flinched and spun around, only to see a sniper in black disappearing between a few other houses. But that wasn't the main attraction... Once he turned back again there was a drop of blood at the edge of the roof.  
Widening his eyes in the process, Shinichi stormed to his clue and bent over it, looking onto the ground below him. Clear visible, there was a small puddle of blood. No way... Was KID shot?


	5. Chapter 5

Yes, KID was indeed shot. Not dangerous, but enough to slow him down a lot. Currently, KID dragged himself into an alley very close to the museum until his legs finally gave in and the young adult collapsed onto the ground. His breath was shaky as he tried to turn with success onto his back.  
"D-damn that was close..."  
Now he could only beg the police wouldn't be searching for him here. With trembling hands he fished out his own phone out of his pocket and dialed Jiis number, having the assistant soon respond with his usual concerned voice.  
"Botcchama, are you alright? Did anything happen?"  
"J-Jii... help... Please... Got shot, a sniper..."  
Jii of course instantly turned on high speed, clear rustling was audible.  
"T-tell me where you are!"  
Kaito looked with blurry eyes around and barely could make out the name of the street he was in. It definitely wasn't a good sign that his vision was blurry and his head slowly became blank.  
"H-hang on botcchama! I'm there any minute!"

But as a silhouette approached KID after a while, this definitely wasn't Jii. He couldn't make out any characteristic, it could have been anyone. But as soon as the person saw him, they froze for a second before dashing off to him. Kaito felt strong arms wrapping around his body and himself getting pulled onto the lap of said person.  
"KID!! ...-en... your eyes... KID!"  
Kaito barely heard him and only stared at him with half closed eyes. Finally, the relieving darkness crawled over him and his head tilted to the side, clearing that the famous phantom thief passed out.

Where was he? Everything was quiet. But it wasn't a dangerous silence, it was peaceful. He felt that he laid on something soft, it definitely was a bed. But why? Did Jii save him from this shaddow? No, impossible. He heard birds singing and these weren't his doves.  
Slowly, Kaito opened his eyes and shielded his eyes at the blinding morning light. He couldn't refrain to notice his upper body wasn't clothed and a slight blush overcame him.  
"...who on earth took my clothes off...? And... bandaged me...?"  
Kaito looked rather surprised at the thick and snow white bandage which covered his stomach and finally realized: It was morning.  
"I-I was out cold the whole night?!"  
Fortunately for him he noticed he still wore his top hat and the monocle, whoever it was made sure to keep his identity a secret.

A soft yawn escaped his mouth and he sighed softly. How could he be so dumb to bring his Meitantei into danger? He sure noticed the sniper behind him, that's why he dissapeared all of sudden without a proper goodbye. Still, he did get shot. At least his Meitantei was safe and unharmed, that already was a success again. Now the only question was again the same one he asked himself at first.  
Where on earth was he?

Kaito tried to move his other hand, but froze as he couldn't. He tugged on it, once more not able to pull away. With clenched teeth he looked up, only to see his left hand being chained to the bed frame.  
"...great. I'm not gonna leave so soon I guess."  
He sure could have opened the handcuffs with ease, but it was impossible to get up with his wound anyway. Now all Kaito could do was waiting and bore himself to death.  
While he waited for his kidnapper to show up again he took a look around the room. His coat, shirt and jacket hung over a chair close to the bed. The window was open, leading into a beautiful garden. How naive could his kidnapper be exactly, he could escape with ease. Actually everything in this room was made out of wood and rather decent, but also charming.

A door opening ripped Kaito out of his thoughts and his expression turned surprised as he recognized the one and only Shinichi entering his prison. A short glimpse of relief washed over Shinichis face as he saw Kaito awake and approached him instantly, sitting down on a chair close to his bed.  
"You're awake."  
"I obviously am. Why am I handcuffed in here?"  
"Because I don't want you to run away before I got some answers."  
KID couldn't help than to groan and bumped his head back into the pillow. So the figure saving him was Shinichi after all.  
"I heard the shot... and saw blood on the edge where you sat. I knew it had been you who got shot. And since you can't use neither your glider nor get far away with an injury like that I just searched in the close area around the museum. I was lucky, it seems~"  
KID couldn't help than to roll his eyes, but a smugly grin came onto his lips.  
"I didn't see who it was, but that person seemed horrified that something happened to me. My my, is the Meitantei really worried about me~?"  
"Of course not!!"  
Shinichi averted his gaze, huffing shortly.  
"Lets just say I'm not letting you die before I solved you as a mystery."


	6. Chapter 6

"A mystery, huh?"  
An amused smile came onto his lips. He surely liked that title the Meitantei gave him. Said person only scoffed at the smug thief.  
"Don't flatter yourself."  
"Yea yea."  
Shinichi actually showed a small smile, it almost looked like he had no other choice but to do so. Kaito sure was ridiculous sometimes. A moment of silence came over these two until Shinichi finally spoke up again.  
"Why did you disappear all of a sudden? That's unlike you."  
Kaito closed his eyes and seemed to think for a moment, but then decided to answer this.  
"I knew there was a sniper this time at the heist. I noticed him when I entered the roof."  
"What brings me to my next question. Who shot at you?"

Kaito froze a second and sighed.  
"Meitantei, you are sticking your nose into business which isn't yours."  
Shinichi merely rolled his eyes. This horrible thief could be so stubborn if he wanted to. He knew, if Kaito once made a decision he wasn't going to change it so easily. However... If Kaito knew there was a sniper why didn't he disappear once he reached the roof? No, instead he simply sat down and waited for Shinichi to show up. Did he even wait? He was oddly relaxed for having a gun against his head. Maybe because he already gave up beforehand throught the sniper?  
"Hey. Meitantei."  
That ripped Shinichi out of his deductions again. Kaito stared with a rather impatient expression at him.  
"I don't want to be impolite, but I've got places to be."  
His work place for example, he already was an hour too late. Kaito worked in a small cafe, as a waiter and to that entertained the audience with small magic tricks. He was known there as a quite tricky person who always managed to fool the audience.

"That's not my problem."  
Yes, that was typical for Shinichi. Not caring at all about such things, as long as there was something for him to solve he wouldn't let it go until he found out. Once more setting up his usual pokerface, Kaito laid back again properly and awaited Shinichis next question.  
"Who is after you in general?"  
"Still none of your business."  
Shinichi scoffed in displeasure and crossed his arms with a slight arrogant expression.  
"You do know I won't let you go until I found out about your secrets?"  
"Now it's my turn to say that's not my problem. Your time is over, dear Meitantei."  
Suddenly a bright flash blinded Shinichis eyes and the man backed with a slightly surprised squeak away out of his chair. Once he reopened his eyes, he saw Kaitou KID dressed in full manner at the windowsill of his room.  
"Farewell Meitantei. There is just one question I have left for you... Why did you keep my identity covered?"  
Shinichi frowned, then a dark grin covered his lips.  
"I want to catch you on my own, Kid. Not because someone shot you down."  
He flashed a glance to the opened handcuffs.  
"I should have expected this."  
"You really should have."

But this time, Shinichi was the one to laugh. With a victorious expression he approached KID, who still had a little trouble keeping himself on his feet.  
"But you won't escape me so fast, KID."  
"W-why do you think so~?"  
Kaito was a bit out of breath, standing alone hurted a lot.  
"Because wounded like this, I am faster than you, stronger and to that know this house like my own pocket."  
"But are you just as mysterious~?"  
Like Shinichi awaited it, Kaitou KID used another small smoke bomb from his belt. Much to KID's despair Shinichi had snatched forward and caught the phantom thief directly at his arm.  
"Not so fast~"  
"Shit...! Or... not~?"  
Once the smoke cleared Shinichi realized he had gripped nothing else than the arm of a dummy, dressed like Kaitou KID. The real man was gone, as much as Shinichi searched through his house and the garden. KID was nowhere in sight.  
"At least I got to ask him some questions..."  
Sighing softly to himself Shinichi went back into his house.

Kaito on the other hand first of all called Jii who seemed at the verge of crying.  
"BOTCCHAMA!! I-I thought they would have killed you...! When I arrived you where nowhere in sight!"  
"Don't worry, I'm... I'm fine. Kudo Shinichi found me short before I passed out. I woke up in his room."  
"Did he reveal your identity?!"  
"No, surprisingly not. He left my hat and monocle at their place."  
A deep sigh of relief was audible at the other end of the phone.  
"I will pick you up... And then I recommend you to rest."  
Kaito nodded, sighing in defeat. This wound sure meant a backfall in his hunt for Pandora. But as soon as he was back in his hideout again thanks to Jii, he dragged himself to bed and soon fell asleep.  
"I really gotta recover soon..."


	7. Chapter 7

As awaited, Kaito needed fairly long to recover. His wounds healed fastly, but he still needed more time to recover than he wished for. Once his wounds healed, Kaito had to train again. His speed, his magic tricks... Everything.  
Summarized, not only Kaitou KID but also Kuroba Kaito dissapeared for a long time.

And Kudo Shinichi was the first person to notice that KID was gone. He knew Kaito got shot, after all he was the one saving his life with taking care or him. But now a month had passed and there still were no news of his rival. The weirdest thing, Shinichi couldn't help than to worry for his best opponent. Who knew if he still was alive? Maybe he already died and nobody had a clue about that.  
Shinichi often visited the museum where he was short before catching KID. The blood already got washed away by rain and there weren't any other clues. But this wasn't even the reason why Shinichi visited the rooftop. For some reason... he felt close to KID on this roof.

Kudo's friends in highschool couldn't help to notice how much Shinichi became quiet and how often he was so deep in thought nothing could make him snap out of it. Finally, Ran took the initiative and Kudo out into a magic bar. Between these two wasn't anything anymore. Shinichi didn't love her the way he used to and Ran moved on about him since long too. By now, they just were nothing else than very close friends. Once they entered the magic bar, Shinichi as usual was the one to analyze everything with a simple glance around.

Today was Kaitos first workday after his injuries. And like that he of course noticed Shinichi entering the bar. Kaito couldn't help than to grin to himself. It was almost priceless that these two bumped into each other.  
He snapped out of his thoughts and went to greet his new guests with a polite bow.  
"I wish a good day~ I will be providing todays entertainment."  
Shinichi simply smiled at him and nodded while Ran seemed exited to see a magician. After Kaito brought their orders he began first with simple card tricks and worked himself up to real illusions. Ran seemed astonished and squealed whenever he managed to trick her without her seeing through it.  
"I watched you the whole time! How did you do that?!"  
"Haha, a magician never reveals his tricks. Do you know how to see through tricks, Kudo-kun?"  
Shinichi flinched and turned his gaze to him, smiling a little perplexed.  
"A-ah, yes, maybe a bit. I watched KID perform up close, I guess I learned a bit how to look through a few tricks..."  
Ran nodded with a serious expression.  
"KID is a master, nothing and nobody can compare to him. S-sorry, didn't mean to be offensive."  
Kaito grinned in a satisfied manner but as Ran said that he chuckled and shook his head.  
"Nono, it's fine. KID is my idol, he is a legend."  
"He sure is..."

Shinichi frowned a little at his own words and sighed. Kaito noticed that and raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner.  
"...is something wrong?"  
"A-ah, nono."  
Shinichi smiled softly at him, then focused his gaze back out of the window.  
"I... I just have been thinking of KID a lot these days. I wonder where he is, what he does now..."  
He shook his head slightly and Kaitos smile dropped a little at these words.  
"Why? You should be glad he didn't do heists since long."  
Shinichi nodded with a deep meaningful sigh.  
"I know I should be. But... there is something only I know. KID got shot. I just want to know how he is... Would be a shame if a rival of mine died beyond my knowledge. Despite that, he still is a mystery I want to solve."

Ran looked at Shinichi with concern in her soothing eyes at this confession, finally getting to know what had been bothering him for the last weeks.  
"Shinichi..."  
The man looked up, a little surprised she spoke his name out with such a soft tone.  
"I didn't know it would be bothering you this much."  
"Of course not this much! I just am curious, I always am."  
It wasn't too long that Shinichi wanted to leave again. Kaito sighed quietly, he had to let Shinichi know that he was fine again. Somehow. Maybe he could visit him as KID? But that would be risky. He could bump into him in the streets at night as Kid. That would be a better choice.  
"Thanks for your visit. I hope you enjoyed your stay~"  
This was all Kaito said before he bowed towards these two.

Once Shinichi finally was at home again he slumped down on the couch and sighed, staring at the ceiling. This small date with Ran cheered him a little up, but it still didn't clear the main question. Kaitou KID.  
But he received a chance to get rid of his questions as he saw in the evening a white figure jumping from roof to roof.


	8. Chapter 8

Kaito on the other hand was a bit sweating already. He needed to hurry to get home and into his outfit and then back again in near of the Kudo manori. He grumbled a little as he finally saw Shinichi showing up in the streets.  
"Took you long enough..."  
Now he made sure he would catch Shinichi's attention with something, a noise or something alike. But that wasn't even necessary as Shinichi immediately saw Kaito in front of him.

His eyebrows furrowed before realization hit him like a train. Cursing loudly, he ran after him.  
"KID!! STOP THIS INSTANT!"  
Kaito himself began to laugh quietly to himself. Shinichi saw him, now he just had to vanish like usual to escape. With a grin he jumped from roof to roof where he soon found a hiding spot. Fast as usual he changed into his unsuspicious clothes and climbed down on the other side of the building, dissapearing into the mass of people.  
Shinichi followed him on the ground as fast as possible but finally lost him. Cursing loudly he changed his direction and ended up in the same crowd Kaito was hiding in. His detective intuition told him clearly Kaito was hiding just in this crowd, he only had to find him. So what did he know about Kaitou KID? The sunlight revealed he had brown hair, but he never saw the hair style thanks to him leaving his tophat on. To that... He was a slim person, but muscular. That was actually all. And of course he needed a backpack or some sort of that to hide his costume in...  
Unfortunally for Shinichi, most people had a backpack or anything bag-alike with them and so he had to give in after a long time of searching. He was tired and still didn't look at the new case he got from the police. He needed to leave home, as much as he hated it.

Kaito on the other hand had been watching Shinichi the whole time with a dark grin on his face. He sure enjoyed toying with the boy like that. Now he needed to go back home, too, else Aoko would ask questions again about him being so tired. And this Hakubastard would get way too close again... The boy shivered at that thought, oh how much he hated that detective. He wasn't at all like Kudo Shinichi, way too arrogant. Mentally scoffing, Kaito raised himself from the bench he was sitting on and changed his directions to his home.

"Kaitooooo! BAKAITO! Wake up!!"  
Kaito flinched madly and let out a quiet whine.  
"Ahoko! Stop yelling into my ear...!"  
"Well how couldn't I if you are sleeping in the lesson?!"  
Kaito groaned and let his head sink back into his arms. Staying up that late was a huge mistake to do... Especially since Aoko began worrying again since he was shortly ago sick for a long time. But not only that...  
"Kuroba Kaito... why so tired?"  
This voice belonged to nobody else than Hakuba. The London bastard. Kaito mentally facepalmed, why now of all times?!  
"I... heard Kaitou KID got shot last time. And now you were missing for such a long time... Isn't that suspicious~?"  
Kaito finally turned around to him with a displeased grumble.  
"I am not Kaitou KID, how often do I have to tell you that?!"  
"Of course you are Kaitou KID! And I will prove it."  
"I have no idea what you are talking about. If you excuse me, I have other things to do than arguying pointlessly with you."  
Kaito got up and flashed a last glare at Hakuba, then dissapeared. Aoko blinked twice and turned to Hakuba.  
"Hakuba-kun, Kaito is never Kaitou KID! Both are morons but Kaito is way too dumb to be Kaitou KID."  
"Maybe you are right..."  
In fact Hakuba only agreed with her to not start a discussion. He knew Kaito was Kaitou KID, there wasn't another possibility. And he would definitely catch him before Kudo Shinichi would.

It wasn't long until Kaito returned into the bar. Jii made him a drink, then began to chat a little with him until he brought up this special topic.  
"My, bocchama... Two detectives after you, the one full of arrogance and temper while the other one is cold as ice... Who do you prefer?"  
Kaito nipped at his drink and sighed shortly, keeping quiet for a second. He thought rather long before a grin came onto his lips.  
"If possible I'd like to escape both."  
"Of course of course..."  
"But if I'd have to choose who catches me... Definitely Kudo-kun. He is way more suitable for a magician extraordinary as I am~ Hakuba really needs a punch into his face from time to time to get him back to reality."  
Jii tilted his head and began to wash out a few glasses left behind by customers.  
"But I need to say... Saguru Hakuba managed to discover your idenity... Other than Kudo Shinichi."  
"Yes... I was too careless that day. But he still has no proof that it's me. That's the first time I was glad Akako put her nose into my business... Without her I'd have been found out."


	9. Chapter 9

After a calm evening at Jii's bar, Kaito returned home lost in his thoughts. He wasn't sure how to escape both Shinichi and Hakuba at the same time, after all both were after him now. And other than Shinichi, Hakuba already found out about his identity.  
With a deep sigh Kaito closed his room door behind him and slumped down on his bed after taking off his shoes and jacket. What an exhausting day... And tomorrow school started again. The boy yawned loudly and stretched himself a little, his gaze falling onto the poster of his father. A short smile flashed over his face and he closed his eyes, his head sinking into the pillow.  
"I'm gonna find Pandora... I promise. No matter which detective tries to stop me, Kaitou KID will stay a mystery and a phantom under the moonlight..."

The next day, he was as usual absent with his mind in school. But his daydreaming didn't last as long as usual as he picked up bits and pieces from Hakubas' mumbling. Obviously, the detective was thinking out loud again.  
"...ha... new challenge for KID... they never learn..."  
Kaito froze this instant and a grin sprawled across his face. With a victorious expression he leaned back and for the first time this lesson focused onto the teacher. KID had just found his new target and that only thanks to Hakuba, he'd have to look the latest challenge note up later.

As Nakamori-keibu received another heist note, the police station was of course immediately alarmed. The keibu ran back and forth in his office like a tiger, trying to think of ways how to catch KID this time. Fortunately for him, soon the door opened and Hakuba strolled in with a mysterious smile on his thin lips.  
"Wednesday, 15:23 noon, 12 seconds and 44 milliseconds... Good afternoon Nakamori-keibu."  
Nakamori immediately furrowed his eyebrows and turned to face Hakuba, confusion written all over his face.  
"Hakuba...? What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy? I'm trying to catch KID, that's nothing for such vegetables."  
He made a small laugh at his own remark. Hakuba didn't even react to his teasing and simply crossed his arms.  
"I ask for permission to design the traps for one room on my own. No interference of any police."  
Nakamori Ginzo stared absolutely priceless at him, before he bursted into laughter and waved him off.  
"If that's all you want, yeah why not. But leave me alone now, I've got important things to do."  
Hakuba merely bowed and after a small 'thanks' disappeared out of the room. This time, Hakuba was completely sure he would get a hold of Kaito. He had discovered Kuroba's ichthyophobia and was going to use this against him at one of his heists. That alone would prove him it really was Kuroba, even if he already knew that.

At the day of the heist, Kaito of course prepared everything. Once the time was ready, he suddenly became visible how he flew over the crowd of fans and everyone broke into loud and massive cheering. Kaito chuckled to himself, enjoying the attention and camera lights on him. Oh, how much he loved the stage.  
The white phantom stopped on top of a lantern, bowing to the cheering audience.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen! I, Kaitou KID, will be stealing just as promised in my note the Dagger of Millenium!"  
Nakamori-keibu growled and shouted into his earbud.  
"Arrest him!! What are you waiting for?!"  
Immediately, police forces were storming at KID from all directions. The thief merely pulled his top hat a little lower to cover his face from the view, before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Kaito took fastly the steps upwards in the scyscraper. This time it seemed to be more easy than usual... How suspicious. The elevator was completely guarded and entering from a window or the roof wasn't possible, so he had no other choice tjan to take the stairs. He chose his way carefully to stay hidden from police, naively believing it was his own choice. In fact, Nakamori-keibu kept watching him over the security cams and placed his men to lead Kaito towards a certain room... The room Hakuba asked to prepare.  
Finally arriving at the room, he rested his hand on the doorknob, but something felt off. Kaito began to realize, inside this room was a trap. And since the keibu had beem guarding him here a well planned one too. But there was no other choice... He needed to go through this room to reach the jewel.

But once he stepped into the room, the door behind him slammed shut and gloomy lights flashed on, illuminating the place in a creepy atmosphere. Only now, Kaito began to realize in what he actually stood there: fish.

Everywhere.

On the ground fish was carefully spread and from the ceiling hung a few well placed on hooks. Kaito froze in terrify until he let out a highpitched scream and stumbled into the next corner, staring like in shock at the fish. The worst thing, the gloomy light made their dull eyes glimm a little. Kaito couldn't think straight anymore, he lost his pokerface this time and desperately tried to regain it.  
But this lasted until someone else in the room caught his attention. It was Hakuba.  
"Friday 22:57 at night, 23 seconds and 9 milliseconds. The time of where I, Saguru Hakuba, caught the famous Kaitou KID. Isn't that right, Kuroba Kaito?"

Kaito swallowed. This time, he was in serious trouble.


	10. Chapter 10

Kaito tried to move, but he couldn't. His body was out of his control, he was frozen in terrify. The poor man could do nothing else than to watch as Hakuba approached him with his infamous victorious smirk. Hakuba grabbed Kaito's completely stiff arms and handcuffed him before he rested a hand on an earbud inside his right ear.  
"Saguru Hakuba here. I caught Kaito Kid."  
"WHAT?!"  
Nakamori-keibu's voice was even audible for KID, tho it felt to him like all of this was a dream. Every noise sounded so far away... all he saw and smelled was fish and only fish. Black spots started to appear in his vision.

After a small talk with Nakamori-keibu Hakuba turned back to the trembling and completely frozen thief who still stared in horror onto the fish surrounding him.  
"I knew I could catch you like that. How long did you think could you keep your ichthyophobia hidden from me?"  
Hakuba chuckled softly and grabbed firmly Kaitou KID's right arm to pull him up.  
"It was only a question of time until I caught you. The last thing to ask would be why you are doing this... Why you are kid. But I doubt you will answer me this, so we will be waiting here for the keibu."  
He leans towards Kaito, lowering his voice a little.  
"The truth will always come to light."

Kaito shivered softly, but he still couldn't keep his eyes off of the fish. His voice was weak, a mere whisper.  
"Saguru... Hakuba... you won't arrest me today..."  
Hakuba chuckled and merely shook his head, remaining within his tight grip on Kaito's arm.  
"You wish for, Kuroba-kun."  
Kaito squeezed his eyes shut and kept quiet for a minute, trying to focuse. He heard steps coming closer and it was obvious the police was about to burst into the room. It was now or never...  
In his thoughts, he saw himself how he promised in front of his father's poster to find and destroy Pandora. He saw himself how he swore to the black organization he would find and destroy Pandora. And he remembered all his victories... he could steal anything he wanted to, nothing could keep him away.

Finally, Kaito opened his eyes. He flinched slightly as he saw the fish again but managed to regain his courage. Hakuba noticed this change of behavior and turned with a questioning glance to him, but all he saw was his handcuffs dropping onto the ground before his vision went black.  
"I'm not Kuroba Kaito... I'm Kaitou KID, magician under the moonlight. And nothing as pathetic as fish could stop me to steal."  
Kaito had to act fast to escape this time. He hastily undressed himself and Hakuba, dressing each of them vice versa. As the finishing touch, he handcuffed the costumed and unconcious Hakuba and smirked to himself, pulling a mask of him over his face. He was now Saguru Hakuba and the original was Kaitou KID. Oh how much he would give to see Hakuba's face when he woke up...

As Nakamori-keibu stormed in with a bunch of armed policemen, Kaito held out the unconcious Hakuba towards him with a victorious grin. In addition, he mimicked his voice perfectly.  
"The truth will always come to light~ As I expected, I caught Kaitou KID. You may arrest him now~"  
If gazes could kill, Kaito would have been a dead man now. Nakamori-keibu was everything but happy to see it wasn't him who caught Kaitou KID after he spent nineteen years on the hunt. He ripped Hakuba out of his hands and scoffed.  
"Finally you are mine, Kaitou KID!"  
Kaito took his way to the door on the opposite wall of the room and smiled calmly.  
"I will be taking a look at the dagger. I want to be sure it's safe."  
Nakamori-keibu merely nodded and took off with his men while Kaito headed off into the opposite direction. As soon as nobody could hear him, he bursted into giggling and incrased his speed.  
"Oh god... That was priceless."

Now as Saguru Hakuba, no policeman tried to stop him as he entered the room of action. He simply lifted the glass container and picked up the dagger, before he walked towards one of the windows and stared upwards into the sky. One of the remaining police officers furrowed his eyebrows.  
"Hakuba-kun, what are you doing there?"  
"Ah, don't worry."  
A sudden poof let the thief vanish in a cloud of pink smoke, once it dissapeared, Kaito stood there proudly in his costume and the window glass was gone. He winked at the man.  
"I'll be just taking this dagger with me~"  
The officer widened his eyes together with the others and gasped.  
"Kaitou KID!!!"  
Kaito laughed in amusement and jumped out of the room, his glider keeping him in the air.

Nakamori-keibu on the other hand half dragged half carried Hakuba down and to the police cars. As soon as Kaitos fans saw the fake, they bursted into cries and complains.  
"Whaaaat?!"  
"Kaitou KID got caught?!"  
"Impossible!"  
Finally, Hakuba slowly opened his eyes and still seemed a little absent. But as he noticed someone dragged him over the ground, he widened them and immediately began to struggle. Nakamori-keibu laughed victoriously at him.  
"You can give up right away! You're already in chains. Not so cheeky anymore, huh~?"  
Hakuba clenched his teeth and began to shout at him.  
"What is going on?! Let go of me and unchain me this instant!"  
"You wish for, Kaitou KID!"  
Hakuba took a sharp gasp and looked down at himself. Immediately he cried out.  
"Dammit! I'm not Kaitou KID! I'm Saguru Hakuba! I caught KID before, but somehow he made me black out...!"  
Nakamori-keibu widened his eyes and in a second all the chains were off of Hakuba, who ripped his top hat off with a scowl and right after that the monocle and the mask. As soon as his face showed, Kaitos fans cried out once more.  
"It's not Kaitou KID!!"  
"It's Saguru Hakuba!!"  
"Where is KID?!"

In that second, KID flew above their heads with his glider, laughing in happiness, carefree as ever.  
"Good luck next time, keibu~! And you too, Saguru Hakuba~! What a pity that Kudo Shinichi didn't show up!"  
Nakamori-keibu clenched his teeth and began to shout orders once more, but it was no use. KID was gone and the heist a success.


	11. Chapter 11

Unfortunate for Shinichi, he caught a flu and wasn't able to attend KID's heist. Ran forced him to stay in bed... without coffee. This was pure torture for Shinichi. Not only that he wasn't able to drink his beloved coffee, he couldn't even attend the only event that always brought him onto different thoughts.

Coughing again like a madman, Shinichi sat up in his bed and took a spoonful of coughing juice. He laid back with a sigh that sounded like a highpitched wheeze and stared at the ceiling, filled with boredom. Oh how much he wished for something to happen, only something which could cheer his dull existance up right now.  
But he was completely tied to the bed, unable to do anything. At this rate he wasn't even able to concentrate onto his new cases. With a longing gaze he faced his desk, full of files from the latest crimes.

Kaito on the other hand couldn't be happier. The heist was a success, the dagger his and to that he beated Saguru Hakuba in the for him most humiliating way. He leaned back into his chair with a satisfied grin on his lips as suddenly the door opened and Hakuba shambled inside. He looked absolutely horrible, huge bags under his eyes and an expression on his face which stated clearly 'Approach me and I'll kill you'. Kaito couldn't help than to suppress a wide grin, he knew he was the reason for Hakuba's appearance. Aoko of course immediately set up a worried expression and eyed the worn man up.  
"H-Hakuba-kun...! Are you alright...? Did you even sleep?"  
Hakuba simply grumbled something ununderstandable and his eyes searched inside the classroom for Kaito. Once their eyes met, a gigantic tension built in the air. It was almost electrifying, Kaito with his victorious and arrogant expression and Hakuba seeming on the verge to kill him for yesterday's events. Finally, Kaito broke the silence.  
"What is going on, Hakuba~? Tired? You should go to sleep earlier~"  
Hakuba glared daggers at him and fell down on his chair, massaging his temples.  
"Just so you wait..."

He didn't have a proof it was Kuroba, but he knew it. There was no other possibility. But what happened now was the cherry on top of the ice cream:  
Kaito stood up and approached Hakuba, before he searched in his pockets and pulled out a beautiful sparkling dagger only without the jewel attached to it. Hakuba and the rest of the class couldn't help than to jawdrop while Kaito set up an innocent expression.  
"I thought you'd want it back... I found it on my way to school. Really Hakuba, you should pay more attention onto such things~"  
Oh, how much Kaito loved Hakuba's expression just now. After the first moments of shock Hakuba turned cherry red and hastily snatched the dagger out of Kaito's hand; Hakuba was fuming.  
"Watch what you're saying, Kuroba!"  
"What? I just brought you the dagger. Be glad I even found it. Tho... there seems to be a jewel missing."  
As Akako saw how much Kaito toyed with the detective, she could barely suppress a giggle inside her hand. It was highly amusing to her to see Hakuba so short before an outburst.

Hakuba couldn't help it either, now Kaito really had gone too far this time to humiliate him like this in front of the whole class. To that in that way that he actually returned the dagger he stole with such a lame excuse to him, in front of all these people... Hakuba had enough. With a cry of anger he stood up and pointed his finger at Kaito.  
"Now you've gone too far Kuroba!! You dare to return this dagger to me, in front of all these people, the dagger you stole in the night! And that without handing the jewel back?! Admite it! You are Kaitou KID!"  
Of course, Kaito knew that would happen and backed a step away with a faked expression of confusion.  
"I-I don't know what you are talking about, Hakuba... I was the whole time at home. Aoko can confirm this. Isn't that right Aoko?"  
Aoko, puzzled by this whole situation, finally caught herself again and nodded with a strict expression.  
"Yes! I saw him reading in his room exactly when Kaitou KID's heist started! How could you think Kaito could be Kaitou KID?! Kaito is way too dimwitted to be Kaitou KID!"  
Kaito gasped at that and snapped around to Aoko, clearly not agreeing to that.  
"Hey! If any, I'm way better and cooler than Kaitou KID! And way better looking~"  
Aoko made a puking noise, resulting the thief to return sulking back to his seat.

Hakuba froze and stared puzzled back and forth between the angry Aoko and the sulking Kaito. Kaito had been at home during the heist?! Of course he couldn't know Kaito planned all that beforehand. He had set up a dummy in his room with a book and left the lights on, and Aoko of course saw that since her habit was to flash in the evening a glance over to Kaitos house.  
With clenched teeth, Hakuba sat down again and growled quietly. This time, he had to admit, he was beaten. The gazes set on the scene turned away and began to focuse as the teacher stepped in, but Kaito set up again his famous pokerface and grinned in his thoughts.  
"That was the fun of my life..."


	12. Chapter 12

Kaito took the jewel from the dagger because of an important reason. It was his excuse to visit Kudo Shinichi, he didn't see him at the heist and the next day there wasn't any sign of life of him either.  
In the evening, Kaito dressed up again as Kaitou KID and left his house after making sure the nosy Aoko wouldn't catch him like this. His way was quiet and not very exiting for him, it wasn't the same to just fly over the roofs without anybody either applauding him or trying to catch him. But he knew this was going to change once he entered the Kudo manori.

As soon as he reached it, the phantom thief of course took the easiest entrance:  
Shinichi's window.  
As said man heard the alarming noises from the direction of his window, his eyes opened wide and his heard snapped around to the source. Shinichi immediately recognized the white appearance and swallowed hard.  
"K-Kaitou KID...?!"  
Kaito merely chuckled and stepped elegantly through the window inside the dark room.  
"Greetings, Meitantei~"  
Kudo Shinichi was both happy and not happy to see him. First, he had no idea what the thief had in store for him but second, he had wished for a thrill to cheer himself up and god must have heard his prays and sent Kaito. As soon as he caught himself again the detective wrinkled his nose.  
"As always, you're committing a trespass again. What do you want inside my house? Here's nothing for you to steal."  
Kaito chuckled softly and inched closer, pulling out of his pocket a jewel which said everything. Shinichi furrowed his eyebrows.  
"You... You're here to return it again. But that's not your only reason to visit... There is something else. What is it KID?"

Kaito sighed and placed the jewel onto the desk before he took a chair and sat down next to Shinichis bed, eying the detective closely up.  
"...you weren't at my heist. I was eager to know what held you back."  
Shinichi kept quiet at first, surprised Kaito had been missing him, but decided to answer this without a snarky remark.  
"As you see, I'm sick. A flu."  
"Ah... I see it, indeed. What a pity..."  
Silence fell upon them for a while as both simply enjoyed the presence of the other one until Shinichi decided to break it as something came onto his mind.  
"That's just the jewel by the way... where is the dagger?"  
Kaito couldn't help than to giggle as he heard that and leaned back with a proud expression into his chair.  
"Don't worry, it's already at the police. Probably.  
"What is that supposed to mean? You did something, I can almost smell it."  
It was a little ironic Shinichi said that since his nose clearly was stuffed and he couldn't smell a thing, but Kaito was already deep in thought about his memories of Hakuba's humiliation in class.

"You see... I trusted a newby magician I watched with this dagger in the early morning when he was obviously on his way to school. I found out Hakuba is going to class with him and that he thinks the newby is my casual identity. Hilarious... Anyway, he seemed to hate Hakuba so I offered him to tease him a little~"  
Kaito laughed a little to himself and Shinichi stared at him in pure surprise.  
"...and how is that boy's name?"  
"I doubt this is any of your interest, meitantei. If it calms you, he didn't see anything. I kept myself covered enough."  
Shinichi grumbled unamused.  
"Then I'll ask Hakuba. He will tell me for sure."  
Kaito chuckled softly. He knew Hakuba wouldn't tell him, he wanted to be the one who caught him and not Shinichi.  
"So... I told him to go up to Hakuba in front of the class, press the dagger into his hand and tell him he found it on his way to school. You should have seen how his eyes sparkled... I would have given so much to see Hakuba's expression."  
Shinichi tilted his head and eyed the magician up.  
"I'm going to ask Hakuba about this."  
"Do so."

Kaito finally got up from his chair and simply smiled at him.  
"Get well soon Kudo-kun. I want to have my favorite tantei at my heist next time~"  
"You worry about me~"  
"Please, you may flatter yourself now~"  
With these words, Kaito left the house through Shinichi's window and closed it politely behind him again. The man was left in confusion. Did he mean it serious? Or was he just fooling around as always?  
He couldn't think further about this topic, the headache kicked in again. With a groan he turned onto his side and closed his eyes, snuggling into the pillow and luckily for him falling asleep fast enough.


	13. Chapter 13

Sad enough for Kaito, Shinichi didn't recover as fast as he thought he would. Thanks to Shinichi's lack of usual sleep and overuse of coffee, the detective took way longer to reach his usual level of health. What lead to him missing another heist of Kaitou KID.

Of course, it had been a success, but there was absolutely no thrill. After colouring Hakuba's hair with pleasure pink and using the remaining colour as smoke bomb on the police forces, the fun ended for him. Rarely any heist had been that boring to him and the worst fact despite Shinichi not being there to stop him, was that the jewel was again not the right one. Kaito was frustrated and the whole time lost in thoughts in school, if he would visit his Meitantei again he would seem desperate to the detective. He wasn't allowed to show his affection to Shinichi anyway, if the Black Organization would get to know about that, they would catch Shinichi to blackmail him.  
And so, the great magician kept sulking on his chair, at loss of having his favorite detective around him. Not even the pink haired Hakuba entering the class could raise his mood a lot.

Which of course didn't get unnoticed by his classmates. Kaito never behaved like this, there wasn't one lesson where he kept completely silent. He was always cheerful and never showed any kind of frustration. This kind of behavior scared the entire classroom, even the fearless Hakuba kept staring holes into Kaitos head from behind, seemingly wanting to be ready for any kind of huge explosion.  
Secretly, he wondered what had happened. The heist was a success and much to his displeasure, he didn't manage to wash the haircolour out. Alone seeing him with pink hair should have driven him to the edge of a laughflash, so what was up with that reaction? A shiver ran through Hakuba's body as he tried to make himself small on his seat, not letting Kaito out of his eyes.

As soon as the magician moved, the whole class flinched and Hakuba mumbled a quiet warning towards himself. Aoko let out a sigh and smiled at Kaito, trying to get him onto other thoughts.  
"Bakaito, smile again!"  
Kaito merely growled deepthroated into her direction, what even silenced the surprised Aoko. That definitely wasn't normal at all for Kaito...

In the evening, to cheer Kaito up, Aoko dragged him for dinner to her place. Ginzo Nakamori seemed to be surprised to see Kaito this moody and offered him a seat at the table.  
"What bothers you, Kaito-kun?"  
"Ah doesn't matter..."  
Telling him Kaitou KID missed Kudo Shinichi at his heists would definitely result in a catastrophe. Oh poor Aoko... No matter what she tried to do, Kaito remained in his mood. And even if this was completely against her nature, she truly had to give up.

The next day, Kaito already felt better. Still, he felt like something was missing. He knew it was Kudo, but he never realized how much he was part of his life. The man caught his thoughts wandering to Shinichi over and over again until he thought it would drive him insane.  
And finally, he saw Shinichi again. Not as Kaitou KID but Kuroba Kaito. Shinichi entered the cafe he was working in, looking a lot healthier than the last time these two bumped into each other. As soon as their gazes met, Kaito jumped in his mind. He was unbelievable happy about seeing his Meitantei again.  
"Good evening. Kudo-kun, if I remember it right?"  
Shinichi's lips curled up into a small smile.  
"Yes, surprising you remember me... I haven't been here since days. A...piece of lemon pie and a coffee please."  
Kaito nodded and suddenly smirked, a small smoke bomb covering him from his guest's view. Once the smoke vanished in two seconds, Kaito held his order in his hands.  
"Itadakimasu~"

Shinichi, fairly surprised, stared a little perplexed at Kaito until he chuckled and began to eat.  
"You magicians sure are a sly kind of people..."  
"May I?"  
Kaito motioned onto the seat across of the detective, which said one allowed him to take. Now that he had the chance to ask him what he wants, he would use it.  
"Say... What do you think of Kaitou KID? After all you encountered him lots and you usually don't take cases involving a thief, after what I've heard."  
Shinichi kept quiet for a second, eying Kaito up from head to toe as if to think wether to tell him or not.  
"Well... Lets say he is different from the others. KID doesn't steal for his own good, neither does he injure anybody at his heists. He is a true mystery... and I will catch him, I will solve his mystery and uncover his secret."  
Kaito wore a mask to cover his eyes, else Shinichi would have seen a face Kaito never showed to anybody.  
He didn't even realize himself, but his upper cheeks, luckily covered by his mask, had a faint pinkish tone throning upon them.


	14. Chapter 14

Later that day, Shinichi was on his way to the Kudo manori and as usual, deep in thought. This man was oddly familiar and he didn't want to admite it, but he took sort of a liking in this waiter. It felt like he would have known him for a horrible long time and moreover, having a conversation hadn't felt this relaxing since ages. Shinichi never was relaxed, always ready to storm from A to B to solve cases or to brood at home over files full of evidence and riddles.  
His free time, if he had any, was filled with coffee and KID's heists.

He cared about KID, he knew this. Never had a criminal been this interesting to him, he wanted nothing more than to solve this mystery called phantom thief. Why he steals only jewely, why he hands it back almost the same day... This isn't a mere joke to him, he knew that much of KID to tell he wouldn't just be some kind of fool only trying to humiliate the police forces and pull detectives into dirt.  
By the time he was home Shinichi already was hungry again. But Kudo would always stay Kudo, so instead of cooking dinner he grabbed a mug of coffee and locked himself into his study to broot over the latest case of murder.

Next time KID and Shinichi crossed paths, it was a dark night. Clouds darkened the vision and helicopters took all effort to keep the roof lighted for KID's possible try to escape from there. Of course said thief had been there since long, observing and noting every so small change in the setting of police, Nakamori-keibu's orders and possible escape routes.

But this time, it was different.

It wasn't KID who first touched the gem, it was Kudo Shinichi.

And he made a horrible mistake.

Bright light emitted from the gem's insides, a fire red jewel throwing its light onto Shinichi as he held at first only jokingly the jewel into the sky like KID usual did. The eyes of the detective widened, his mouth dropped as he couldn't help but stare in awe at the sparkling jewel.  
"T-tantei-kun!! Don't!! Throw it away!!"  
The sky was dark this night, but only the slight beam of moonlight making its way through the clouds had been enough. Shinichi flinched and looked over his shoulder, watching Kid in surprise storming at him. But it was too late.

A light blue drop of fluid emitted from the jewel and fell into Shinichi's opened mouth.

Kaito knew what it had been once he managed to get onto the roof illuminated by the helicopters. He saw Pandora with his own eyes, the red jewel promising the power to grant eternal life. Panicking at the naive movement of the detective, Kaitou KID cried out towards Kudo and dashed towards him, but stopped abruptly as he saw the tear falling. Shinichi didn't even notice it and stared in a priceless manner at Kaito, unable to get a word out while the phantom thief collapsed onto his knees, staring just as shocked back at his favorite tantei.  
"...I-I... I failed..."  
Kudo was too stunned to react but once he caught himself again he had no time to act since finally the helicopters spotted them. KID exhaled shakily in attempt to regain his pokerface and snatched the jewel out of his rival's hand.  
"Meitantei, I want you and only you to come in an hour to this address. I won't accept any complaints."

Shinichi furrowed his eyebrows and took a short gasp, reaching out to Kaito but the magician popped in front of him once more into millions of confetti pieces, spreading across the roof top and vanishing with the wind into the streets of the lively city.  
After excusing himself from the police force he first went into the direction of his home. Which address did KID mean? He hadn't said anything further.  
"...no way, did he again...?!"  
Grumbling, Kudo searched in his pockets only to find a note with KID's usual sign with an address inside it. He sighed quietly and stopped in his tracks, that was on the other side of the town. If he would take the train he might make it punctual.  
"KID is behaving extremly odd... His pokerface fell because of something and obviously it's this gem. Hm... I suppose I will have to figure this out myself."  
Shinichi murmured quietly while heading through the train station. He felt his chest growing colder without knowing why, bit by bit he began to freeze more and more. By the time he reached the address, he was trembling all over his body and his mind became blank.  
"W-what on earth... is wrong... with me..."  
This weren't the usual symptoms of his lack of sleep or coffee overuse.

KID already waited at the entrance, much to Shinichi's surprise it was a villa he faced. The magician stared with an unreadable expression down onto the detective and finally, after a long silence, exhaled quietly and lowered his head as if to avoid Shinichi's eyes.  
"...I'm sorry Meitantei."  
Taken aback by this, said detective furrowed his eyebrows and took a step closer to KID.  
"You're talking in riddles. As far as I remember you have to apologize to those you stole from, not to me."  
"Kudo-kun..."  
The man froze. That was the first time Kaito adressed him with his real name and not the nickname he invented for him. His thoughts got once more interrupted by KID speaking up again.  
"Kaitou KID... KID swore to not let anybody ever get hurt at heists. I... I swore this. And now... you are hurt..."  
Distractions aside, Shinichi felt the cold in his chest growing more and more to the point of being unbearable.

With a soft whimper he leaned against a tree to hold his weight, making the thief stop in his explanations.  
"K-Kudo-kun?! What is it? How do you feel?"  
"C-cold... My chest is... cold... It's ripping me apart..."  
Finally he couldn't fight anymore, the detective closed his eyes and sank with a quiet painful whine onto the ground, slipping into unconciousness.


	15. Chapter 15

Kaito had his doubts and concerns as he led his detective to this villa. Akako was a difficult person... He was almost sure she had given up on him but she still was a witch, after all.  
As Kudo collapsed Kaito stood in the next second at his side, hosting him into his arms and rushing towards the entrance doors. Having no arm free he kicked once against the door, resulting it to open a few painful minutes later.

An old man stood in the entrance, looking like the butler of this manor. He wasn't a very pleasant view to face, a slight insane glim in his eyes fell directly into Kaito's attention and his back was bent over, obviously he had a misbuilt spine.  
"How may I help you, Kuroba-san?"  
Kaito froze shortly as he adressed him like this, he was in disguise and nobody should recognize him. Still, he shook his head as he had to admite to himself that this wasn't of importance now.  
"I-I'm KID, not Kuroba. Say, where is Akako-chan?"  
"Akako-sama is not aviable now, Kuroba-san."  
Kaito clenched his teeth and flashed a glance at the face of his unconcious tantei, already forgetting to deny his identity.  
"Please... It's very important..."  
The man flashed a glance at Shinichi and seemed to fight himself, before he sighed and stepped aside, giving the way free into a large entrance floor.  
"...you may pass. Please, follow me."

Kaito had no time to admire the gigantic house as he hurried after the small man, expecting to see Akako behind every corner but his hopes got crushed every time they passed one. Finally, the man stopped in front of an innocent looking door and knocked with his boney hand against the wood.  
"Beautiful Akako-sama, Kuroba Kaito came to visit you. It is of important matter."  
"What?!"  
That was all Kaito heard before the door opened and Akako faced him in surprised. She eyed him shortly up, then smiled in a way which could send chills down Kaito's spine if he wouldn't have been so used to it.  
"Ah, Kuroba-kun... Come inside."  
"Ojou-san, my name is KID, I have no idea what you are talking about."  
He stepped into Akako's room while the witch merely scoffed and adjusted her shining black hair.  
"Quit playing games Kuroba-kun. Now... You brought a guest as well? Kudo Shinichi, if I am not mistaken?"  
Kaito clenched his teeth, he knew this wasn't the right time for such a discussion. Sighing, he sat down on a couch coloured in a bloody red, lifting the unconcious detective onto his lap.

"Akako-chan, I... I need your help."  
Akako couldn't help than to show a satisfied and moreover arrogant smile. For the first time in their long life, Kaito approached Akako for something he needed despite her chocolate on this single valentines day.  
"How ironic, now you need my help~ And what would you want from me? Obviously your precious detective needs it."  
Kaito sighed and had to admite silent defeat.  
"Akako-chan, I... It is a little difficult but I need your help in sorcery. You see... I am KID because of a gem existing, a promise to eternal life. It's called-"  
"Pandora."  
She interrupted him with surprise in her voice, yes, she indeed knew about this gem. It had been a legend surpassed down from generation to generation in her bloodline. As she realized what Shinichi might have to do with this, her eyes became big and her lips curled up into a victorious smile.  
"Indeed... it seems Kudo-kun is immortal now, isn't this right? And you want me to find a way to get rid of this curse."

Kaito nodded quietly and Akako took a quiet sigh.  
"Well Kuroba-kun, do you have Pandora with you? I need to study the legends and the gem itself to find any way to get rid of the curse."  
Said one immediately fumbled in his jacket to fish out the sparkling jewel but of course hesitated shortly.  
"...Akako. I need it back. After you found a cure I need to destroy it."  
Akako scoffed arrogantly and crossed her arms.  
"Kuroba-kun, do you really think I help you without something in return? I want this jewel. I will be the one to become immortal, to continue enchanting every male with my beauty for eternity."  
The magician hesitated at this and began to nibble on his lower lip. He wasn't at all sure about this, reminding himself of the power Akako owned and the various incidents in the past. His troubled gaze fell onto the unconcious Shinichi and within a second, he decided his answer. For the sake of his favorite detective he would sacrifice the only thing which had ever really mattered to him: Destroying this jewel.  
Kaito handed Pandora to Akako, but eyed her with a stern gaze up.  
"...as you wish. But under a few conditions. Please keep my identity to yourself and don't show Pandora to anyone else. There is an organization who murders for this jewel... They almost killed me too, I barely escaped through a lucky accident."  
Akako laughed in a sweet but at the same time devilish manner, accepting Pandora as if it would have been a gift and holding it against her cold heart.  
"I accept. And don't worry... A witch of the red bloodline knows when someone is in love~ I will leave you to Kudo-kun. But for the time being, you will have to stay in Kudo's near. He needs to have support."

"Of course."


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as the contract had been made and put to paper by the butler and obvious assistant in Akako's sorcery, Kaito left the villa with a medicine poured by the infamous witch. It wasn't going to cure Shinichi but at least kept his heart warm and safe for a longer time. Because that was the only thing Kaito hadn't known until meeting Akako this very day. Pandora had a negative effect.

If someone desires eternal life, the heart will have to freeze to keep the soul prison inside the body.  
Shinichi would have lost bit by bit his feelings... He would have resulted into an emotionless puppet, having no longer to bear guilt, sorrow or anger. But as well peace, happiness and love.  
Kaito paled at this thought and he couldn't help but tear up, even tho he tried his very best to suppress his overwhelming guilt. It was his fault, he knew this. He didn't prevent Shinichi, he didn't make it on top of the roof fast enough. And now not only the life of his tantei was in danger but he also threw away his goal of destroying the jewel.  
The desperate thief didn't know what to do. He had to keep close company to Shinichi now, Akako said he would need to take a sip of the medicine she mixed every day at morning. As he knew Shinichi, he would forget this immediately.

There was just one problem, where should he bring Shinichi?

Home was almost impossible for him, it was first of all a very long way and he was unable to travel this fast every morning to school from the Kudo manori. His only other option was to hide the detective in this house. Kaito mentally facepalmed... He sure had gotten himself into something, he knew this. And so, at the end, Kaito took the direction directly towards his own house.  
Once he arrived, Kaito tugged the man into his own bed and sat beside him, feeling his forehead. Shinichi was unusual cold and so Kaito immediately pulled out the medicine. He opened the man's mouth slightly and poured a bit into his mouth, then made him swallow afterwards before he got up to dress in his usual attire.

"You did what?!"  
Kuroba Chikage was certainly stunned to hear about the recent events and kept quiet a second, fiddling with her thoughts to give her desperate son a fitting advice.  
"So you're telling me... You found Pandora, well, the Detective of the East found it and accidently drank the unholy tear and now he is immortal. You asked a befriended witch to help you, handed her Pandora to seal a contract and now the Detective of the East, Kudo Shinichi, is at our house?!"  
The man swallowed nervously and nodded to agree to his mother's words. He was a little uncertain about what she was about to say, but as she showed a slight smile Kaito felt relief flooding over him.  
"Your father would have been so proud of you... You left Pandora at trustworthy hands. If one thing about sorcery is fact, then it is that no witch ever breaks a contract or its rules. And to that you did it for saving a life... Shinichi-kun can stay of course. But I am not so sure about revealing your identity, he's a detective after all."  
Chikage sighed softly and began to play with a string of her hair which she usually did when she measured the pros and cons. It was Kaito who interrupted her trail of thoughts.  
"Meitantei turned blind eyes from time to time at me for helping him catching other criminals. He isn't like other detectives... I'm confident he will turn a blind eye this time as well, it's about his life after all."

Even tho Kaito said that, he knew exactly himself that the first thing Kudo Shinichi would do after waking up was blackmailing Kaito in telling him his whole life story.  
After ending his video chat with his mother, Kaito flashed a glance at the still unconcious Shinichi.  
Within the matter of seconds he decided to stay in his bed instead of the couch, preferring to stay at Kudo's side in this situation. After all it was his fault. The bed was easily big enough for both of them and Kaito didn't hesitate to tug himself into the sheets as well, shooting a last worried glance to his companion. He of course would notice if Shinichi would wake up like this and felt a little relieved for once to have a light sleep.  
It wasn't long until the magician closed his eyes, inching in search for comfort closer to his favorite tantei and snuggling into his back. Of course he made sure like that Shinichi really wasn't able to get up without him noticing.


	17. Chapter 17

Shinichi's mind was a complete blur as he woke up, everything but usual for him. He always had been a morning person, moreover because of his lack of sleep during the night. To that it surprised him that he was obviously inside a bed, memories of KID's heist flashed through his fuzzy mind.  
The man lightly pried his eyes open, staring for a while onto the wall across of the warm room he was inside as he tried to collect his thoughts. It was only then that he began to notice he wasn't alone in this bed, a strong arm held him close at his stomach.

Shinichi's heartbeat began to quicken. Did he get kidnapped? This wasn't his house, he didn't know this room at all. The sunlight flashing through the window illuminated a comfortable decorated room, showing a desk with various papers scattered across, a laptop on top of it and a wardrobe. The man turned slightly his head to catch more of the room but froze as he saw the poster of Kuroba Toichi, the magician.  
"Hm..."  
Now finally daring to move, he slowly raised himself and held Kaito's arm softly to not wake him up, before he turned around to face the sleeping person snuggled into the sheets. Almost in the same second his face lost all colour, he recognized the person as Kuroba Kaito, the waiter out of the cafe he visited recently. But how did he end up here? Obviously it was Kurobas house.

Where to begin? He had faced Kaitou KID on top of a scyscraper, surrounded by helicopters and kept the jewel tight inside his grasp. The jewel he held against the moonlight before just because he wanted to see why KID usually did this.  
"Right... This bright red light... and KID panicked..." The man mumbled to complete his fading memory. He ended up following the order to arrive at an address KID handed to him, feeling colder and colder every minute. And at the end after a small exchange of words with KID he passed out...  
The only logical answer to his whereabouts would be this person being KID. He was going to find this out right away, nobody left Kudo Shinichi clueless in the dark and KID had been playing games far too much with him, not that he didn't enjoy their battle of wits.  
The man took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

"KID!"

Kaito jolted and sat up in an instant, blinking thrice to remember his whereabouts. Still half asleep he stared at Shinichi, mindlessly responding with an overall whiny "Y-yes...?"  
That was all Shinichi needed as proof, growling he got up right away out of the far too comfortable bed and towered over the sleepy Kuroba with a determined expression.  
"I should have expected that. Where am I, KID? Or Kuroba Kaito, if you prefer that? What did you do to me?"  
Kaito groaned and made a move to leave the bed as well, but Shinichi grabbed him at his shoulder and pushed him back into the sheets.  
"No. I want answers, KID, and I won't let you off of the hook this time."  
"W-wait... Let me first wake up... It's tol early for the ruckus..."  
"You are awake!! Now quit playing games!!"  
The detective was visibly annoyed as Kaito rubbed sleepily inside his eyes, trying to focuse.  
"Yea yea quit nagging me... What happened to you is... Ah... I guess I'll have to tell you the whole story from beginning... Want a coffee?"  
Surprised about this offer the man nodded and stepped aside, letting Kaito pass. Groggily, the thief shambled past him into the kitchen with Shinichi directly at his heel, of course he couldn't give the thief any chance to slip out of this conversation. But really, he began to prepare calmly a cup of coffee for his tantei.

A minute later both of them sat down across the table and only now Shinichi noticed how similar this man looked to him. No wonder he was able to disguise himself as the detective so well, not that he would doubt KID's abilities.  
After Kaito entrusted Shinichi with his whole story of becoming Kid and what Shinichi had done the last evening, silence fell upon these two. Kaito observed his counterpart closely while Kudo needed to sort out his mind.  
"...that means... I am immortal now? I... I am forced to outlive friends and family?"  
Kaito hesitated a moment, but still nodded in agreement. The poor detective had seen and heard a lot of things in his life, but this was a whole new league.  
"When we're at it... Here. Take a sip. It protects your heart from growing cold... You have to take it every morning and as I know you, you will definitely forget it which means I'll have to keep an eye on you."  
"I'm not a child you know?!"  
Shinichi puffed his cheeks a little at this but still accepted the mysterious looking bottle and swallowed a mouthful. He had no reason to distrust KID as he had never hurted anybody.

"...so I'll have to stay here."  
"That's the case."


	18. Chapter 18

Yes, that was true.  
Kaito and Shinichi lived together now for the time being.  
And it should have been awkward.

...it wasn't.

Kaito enjoyed Shinichi around him, he never stopped to admire his genius mind. Secretly he observed him checking through his files or reading a Sherlock Holmes novel and found himself growing more and more fond of him. He knew inside his heart that it wasn't just admiration he felt for Shinichi, Akako had pointed it out that special evening too.  
Not that he believed anything could evolve out of this.  
He was a detective after all, out of his reach with his criminal identity.

Shinichi realized the same. It should have been awkward to spend his time living together with the marvellous phantom thief Kaitou KID, especially because he was a detective and used to do everything to find out about KID's identity. Now that he knew absolutely everything about his motives he expected to loose interest in KID the same moment but it just never happened.  
Kudo Shinichi still chased with ambition after Kaitou KID.  
And it surprised him how much of an ordinary guy KID was behind his mask of a phantom.

Kaito and Shinichi began to grow closer, chatting every day about mindless things or deep psychological riddles of human kind. It was refreshing for both of them to spend time with someone equal in mind. It didn't last long until Aoko noticed Shinichi as well inside his house.  
It was actually an accident as Shinichi aimlessly wandered around in town, only to find himself in front of Kaito's university. The man was homeschooled by now and studied whenever he had time to, the distance between his school and Kaito's residence had been too far to surpass every morning and evening, it simply wasn't worth to him. As Shinichi studied the building suddenly someone from above screamed down onto him, fury in her voice.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE?! GET YOUR ASS INSIDE!!"  
Startled by this Shinichi took a step back and narrowed his eyebrows, answering politely to the woman above who obviously seemed to be a teacher.  
"Miss, you must be mistaking me for someone!"  
"STOP YOUR TRIES TO FOOL ME, I ONLY GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO USE THE BATHROOM! HURRY UP NOW!"  
Shinichi sighed softly, it was unpolite to simply turn around and leave. He had no other choice than to make his way up into the building to visit the classroom. As soon as he arrived in front of the classroom he knocked faintly, before he opened it. The teacher, obviously furious, growled at him.  
"Kuroba Kaito, you're such a troublemaker! You just attended university and still you have nothing better to do than fooling around!"  
"Bakaito you've been gone for fifteen minutes!"  
A girl similar to Ran stared intensively at him as Shinichi leaned against the doorframe.  
"Miss, as I said, you must be mistaking me. My name is-"  
"Kudo Shinichi~ Nice of you to visit me."  
Right at the same second Shinichi felt a hand falling from behind onto his shoulder, a grinning Kaito showing up behind him.

The whole classroom fell silent as they observed the lookalike men. Saguru Hakuba sweatdropped and leaned forward, letting out a quiet murmur.  
"Oh horror, two Kurobas..."  
Kaito laughed softly, easing the atmosphere like that as he passed Shinichi, returning to his seat.  
"Nono, Kudo-kun is different. He's not a troublemaker, well, not intentiously. Trouble just weirdly always finds him~"  
Shinichi snorted as he heard that and finally showed a toothy grin, similar to Kaito's.  
"It's not my fault you know?"  
"I'd have said that too in your place."  
Aoko began to giggle at this exchange of words and Akako smiled slyly, eying Shinichi up. The man flashed a glance at her as well, nodding politely to her. He had met her a few times after he woke up at Kuroba's to fetch his medicine he received from the witch. But his attention went back to the phantom thief as he spoke up again.  
"Ah, Kudo-kun, since you're off right now... Mind grabbing some groceries on your way home? I planned on cooking dinner today."  
A little puzzled by this Shinichi nodded and bowed a last time politely before heading off. He didn't even leave into the hallway as he heard Aoko exclaiming loudly.  
"You're living together?! Are you a couple?! Why don't I know about this BAKAITO!!"  
"O-of course not Ahoko! We're just sharing a house because of too high rent! Sheesh..."  
Shinichi couldn't help than to smile at this. It really felt like they would be a married couple, living together, cooking together, laughing and fooling around...

He somehow liked the question.  
"Are you a couple... a couple... are we a couple?"  
His smile dropped slightly, Kaito was the only one to keep his heart all warm and safe. Yes, he felt safe at Kaito's side. How ironic for a detective to feel safe in near of a thief. Kaito occasionally hugged him and Shinichi adored the warmth rushing through him. And Kaitou KID was gone as well... Kaito stopped to dress up as the magician under the moonlight.  
Because he had attained his target. Kaito found Pandora and left it where the black organization wouldn't ever be able to find it.  
In the care of a witch.


	19. Chapter 19

"What?! Akako-chan you cannot be serious!!"  
Two months had passed now since this incidence and finally, Akako found a way to lift the curse. But the way... it wasn't what Kaito expected.  
"Yes Kuroba-kun. I'm serious. That's the only way you can lift the curse Kudo-kun is suffering from."  
Kaito sunk back in his chair, he really didn't await this.

"So... in order to lift the curse... Shin-chan has to... fall for me?"  
Akako nodded and straighted her back, towering a little over him.  
"Yes. Only the true warmth of love can heal Kudo-kun's heart. As the witches of red magic used to say... Only love can break any curse."  
Kaito sighed and burried his face into his hands. He loved Shinichi with all his heart and tried to stay distant to him so the feelings might fade. Hearing now from a witch that he was supposed to grow even closer with him felt like a punch into his stomach, it made him feel sick to the boot.  
It was possible after all that Kudo and he would break apart like this.

Silence spread above these two and finally, Kaito excused himself. He had a lot to think about and especially find a method to make Shinichi fall for him. He definitely wouldn't leave him to another girl or boy, since Shinichi and he met he always knew the detective was his. His tantei, his rival, his soulmate.  
The only one to match wits with.  
The only one worth to chase after below the moonlight.  
The only one he had ever truly loved.

As Kaito arrived back home Shinichi greeted him with a smile as he looked up from his coffee.  
"Hey Kaito-kun. How was your day?"  
Kaito didn't answer. He simply sat down and stared gloomily onto the table, deep in thought. It wasn't that he snapped out until Shinichi hugged him from behind, sighing.  
"Kaito-kun... What is bothering you? I can at least listen."  
"No Shin-chan... Leave it yes?"  
"Hey I told you to not call me Shin-chan!"  
Shinichi grumbled some not very nice sounding words and Kaito couldn't help than to smile, even if only very lightly. Yes, that was his typical Shin-chan.

This day, Kaito dressed up as Kid again. Yes, he retired from being Kid, but he never left any kind of note to say goodbye. This time, he was going to make it clear for everyone that Kid would never return again. He opened his housedoor and left into the dark streets, first meeting up with Jii to thank him for all what he did for him, Kid and his father Kuroba Toichi. It wasn't long until he arrived at the local police station where Nakamori Ginzo had to work late.  
The poor man had gone insane by now in attempt to find Kid again, he didn't want to loose his trace so easy like last time. But as soon as a pink cloud of smoke appeared inside his office, he already knew it was Kid.

"Good evening, Nakamori-keibu."  
As soon as the white costume appeared out of the smoke Nakamori-keibu jumped out of his seat and charged at Kaito, what he dodged with ease.  
"I'll arrest you this time Kid! You won't escape again!"  
"Calm down!"  
Kid sighed softly and a gentle smile appeared on his lips.  
"I came to say goodbye and to thank you."  
"Thank... me?!"  
Ginzo surely was surprised, Kid thanking him was the last thing he imagined to ever hear. Now rather curious to what he was hiding, he settled down and decided to let him speak before arresting him.  
"I attained my true target at the last heist and so won't return the jewel this time, much to my despise... But I appeared now in front of you to ensure you... this is the last time you will see Kaito Kid ever again. I am hanging the hat and coat onto the nail... And I wanted to apologize as well for stealing so much of your time."

Nakamori-keibu stared speechlessly at him, not able to get a word out in response. Kid wanted to give up?! Kid wanted to leave his life just like he stepped into it, like a phantom?! He didn't spend these years all worthlessly chasing after Kaito Kid! Finally, he caught his voice again.  
"You...! You won't! I will arrest you! I didn't spend all this time chasing after you to let you vanish right in front of my nose!"  
With that he launched forward, trying to get a hold of Kid, but said one only showed a sad smile and vanished in a poof into rose petals.  
"We will see each other again, keibu... But you won't recognize me."  
As Kaito left the office, his head hung down. It was a shame for him to say goodbye to his task force leader, the one who hunted Kid since a felt eternity. And to let go of Kid... it was a burden to him. In the sky, at nighttime, he felt free. Kaito surely would miss to enchant a such gigantic audience as a phantom thief.


	20. Chapter 20

The next day he first noticed his mistake when it was almost lunch time. He forgot to wake Shinichi. He saw him sleeping soundly at his desk over his files but in his hurry forgot it.  
"Oh god I forgot...!! Forgot forgot...!!"  
Hakuba noticed Kaito's panic attack and furrowed his eyebrows, trying to listen to his mumbling.  
"Shit...! Shit shit shit he could be dead now...! S-sensei!! Sensei may I please leave class?! It's really important!! Please!"  
The teacher, surprised to see another emotion than happiness in Kaito's face, simply nodded and the whole class watched the man storming full speed out of the room. Tears started to fall down his cheeks as Kaito ran along the path which greeted him with green grass and little children playing around.  
"Nonono!! Kudo...! Kudo please...!"

It wasn't long until he opened the door and stumbled into his house.  
"KUDO?! SHIN-CHAN!! ANSWER ME!!"  
He forgot to wake him up to take his medicine. Akako warned him, she warned him clearly if Shinichi would miss to take it a single day his heart would be frozen within four hours. A sleepy Shinichi shambled out of the kitchen, a coffee in his hands.  
"Kaito...? Aren't you supposed to be in class-"  
He didn't get any further as Kaito tackled the man onto the ground in a bone crushing hug, pressing a squeal out of his body and the cup bursted into several pieces once it hit the wooden floor.  
"Ouch!! Kaito! What has gotten into you?! Ouch!"  
Poor Shinichi rubbed whining his head, trying to ease the pain. Kaito on the other hand stared at Shinichi like he was the one going insane.  
"S-Shin-chan... A-are you annoyed? Mad?"  
"OF COURSE I AM YOU IDIOT!"  
Shinichi possessed feelings. He still did feel annoyance and anger. Kaito couldn't believe his ears, it was impossible for him unless... unless...  
His eyes grew big at that thought.  
"Shin-chan tell me... Do you love me? Are you in love with me?"

Shinichi stared at him as if he just grew a second head. Kaito began to chew on his lip, it must have been true or else Shinichi wouldn't have had feelings anymore at this point. Finally, the detective showed the reaction Kaito waited too long for.  
He turned his head to the side to avoid his eyes, a soft pink covering his cheeks as he kept silent.  
But that was all the former thief needed to see. Laughing in joy he kept trapping Shinichi below him on the ground, hugging him as tight as possible which soon resulted into the poor man gasping for air.  
"Oh Shinichi I'm so happy...!"

Kaito raised himself from his admirer and held a hand out, helping Kudo up onto his feet again. Tho in the same second, Shinichi found himself pressed once more against his chest as the magician hugged him once more.  
"Oh Shin-chan... I'm so sorry... I forgot to wake you and you didn't take your medicine! You'd have lost your feelings by now..."  
Shinichi's eyes grew wide as he heard Kuroba blurting all of this out and froze for a moment, feeling for his heart which beat clear and warm inside his chest.  
"H-how? How am I still feeling?"  
"I... I didn't want to tell you beforehand. Akako-chan found a cure to this curse... True love. She said you'd need to fall for me... It would be enough to warm your heart the rest of your life and eliminate the curse. Shin-chan... You're not immortal any longer."  
Having said this both the detective and former thief bursted into tears, laying in each others arms, both glad to have ended this horror.  
"Kaito-kun... did you fall for me too?"  
"I did. I love you with all my heart."

These two sentences made Kudo Shinichi become the happiest person he had ever been. Kaito didn't even think about going back to school this day now that he had so much to tell his favorite tantei and soon both sat down in the kitchen, cuddling each other and drinking coffee together.  
"Shin-chan, will you stay here? With me?"  
"Of course, baka."  
A sudden smirk overcame Kaito and he looked cheekily over to his new boyfriend.  
"And will you give him to me? Kudo Shinichi?"  
The detective raised his eyebrows and smirked back at his counterpart, immediately shaking his head.  
"You didn't think I'd be giving up on myself so fast, did you? I want them both too. Both of them belong to me, KID and Kuroba Kaito."  
"Then I will gladly give you both as well."  
A softer smile was exchanged between these two and both of them spend a peaceful day together. In the evening as Shinichi suddenly sneezed, Kaito looked up with worry across his usual pokerface.

"You aren't getting sick are you?"  
"Oh stop caring already I'm not that fragile!"


End file.
